Phones' Plateau

Since my last year's switch to iPhone after the 6-years old Android Blackberry died in October I must say I have zero complaints. Maybe I'm just ageing. But the thing is there is hardly anything to complain about and hardly anything to add or improve.

The apps have no lag, the display is crisp, there are tons of connectivity options, including dual/esim, WiFi calling and even satellite emergency. Yes the satellite option is a bit limited, but thinking about it, I still prefer carrying the  Garmin inReach Mini on multi-day remote hikes - it is way more rugged and at 100 grams hardly adds any bulk.

On the wish list I only have the visual style improvement of the CarPlay interface (Android Auto is much sleeker) and separate volume settings for different categories of sounds (say loud alarm clock and soft notifications).

I understand iPhone 15 is the most expensive and most advanced phone today (not counting the foldables), but still it seems the phones have plateaued. Of course they will have better cameras (they are already so good I no longer carry a DSLR on mountain treks), better batteries (but the 15 lasts for two days which is... OK...) and probably tons of invisible software features. Speaking of software - the iOS 17 multilingual touch keyboard, which is supercharged by AI, is my favorite feature. Makes really a day-and-night difference to what touch keyboards used to be. There is ultra low latency sensing combined with low latency haptic feedback and AI language model word suggestion engine. The result is easy, fast typing and very low error rate.

But still, the same keyboard is available in iPhone 14, so I agree the 15 brings very little to the table (other than USB-C charging, which to some like me is a deal maker). Which proves the point - we have reached the phones' innovation plateau. Similar to cars - after there were equipped with electronic engine controls (ECUs) and the important safety (mostly anti-blocking systems - ABS), coupled with corrosion protection - there has really not been a progress for the last 30 years or so. I owned a 1992 VW Passat, then 2000 Volvo, then 2004 and 2008 Subarus. Then I bought a 2015 Subaru which I sold before the delivery and came back to a 2005 model (which feels better and drives better).

This whole plateau poses some kind of a problem for the manufacturers, as it is becoming increasingly to convince people to upgrade to the latest and greatest every year. Which - BTW - is good in general terms. Upgrades are painful and a waste of time, so focus on important things and upgrade when you really need to.